“As an industry, we need to get past the point of listening to closely to so-called social media gurus who respond to

dealer questions about ROI by dancing around the use of objective measurements in applying performance analysis

to automotive social media marketing initiatives…”-- Ralph Paglia

NADA MarketINSIGHT: Does the ROI on Social Media Pencil? New Ideas on Measuring Performance of Social Media

• What: Debunk many of the fallacies surrounding social media by applying measurement and tracking systems to eliminate mysteries surrounding social media marketing and reputation management ROI.

• Why: Despite an endless supply of new social media sites similar to, but different from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, DealerRater and hundreds of others, there has been little effort to supply dealers with tools to measure and report results… Yet, dealers are being inundated with various spins on social/digital media made during new vendor pitches for dealer dollars.

• How: The current situation around social media is like the 18th century question, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" In my opinion, too many social media pundits dance around each dealer inquiry concerning tracking, results measurement and ROI analysis… Put measurement systems in place BEFORE starting a social media initiative!

Forrester’s ROI Methodology

Costs(Impact on expenses)

Benefits(Impact on dealership)

Flexibility (Proactive vs Reactive)

RISK

Total Dealer Economic Impact

Uncertainty• Impact of “assumptions”

Benefits• Quantified value• Defined metrics

“Options” created• Are there new opportunities created for future revenue and profit realization?

Cost• People• Process• Technology

There are many benefits of

Online Dealer Communities…

Source: “The ROI of Online Customer Communities” Forrester Research

Automotive Examples

Strategic ROI Proforma…

Planning…The essentialingredient todriving withyour eyes open!

Objectives…The essentialingredient togetting results.

Social Media Results Known = Dealer ROI (the What)

1. Marketing Communications: Create and Publish content that attracts consumers within demographics targeted by social media marketing strategy. Use Social Apps to engage/interact/convert.

2. Reputation Management: A. Monitor social web for content posted containing dealership brand.

B. 911 Fast Response Strategy and Process for negative content posted. Notify dealer POC’s of what was posted, when and by who. Send POC copy, including response published and actions/due dates required

C. “Social Rewards” strategy for positive posts, comments and mentions

D. Promptly create and post appropriate responses to all dealership mentions so people see your store cares, pays attention, responds, appreciates compliments and resolves customer concern issues

3. Traffic Generation: Use anchor text and linked content to drive targeted traffic from social media sites into dealer’s social assets and websites, incoming phone calls to social media assigned numbers, use stories to drive showroom traffic

4. Improve SEO Strategy: Quickly increase the dealership SEO “footprint” with multiple SERP listings from dealer’s Social Media accounts and profile subdomains. Back links from hundreds of Social Media sites to dealer’s eCommerce sites boost authority and rank with search engines.

1. Create and Publish high quality content that attracts and engages people in demographic categories your overall dealership marketing programs seek and target

2. Monitor every post that mentions your dealership, report to key dealership stakeholders on what it is, when, where and by who

3. Promptly post appropriate responses to all dealership mentions so people see your store cares, pays attention, responds, appreciates compliments and resolves customer concern issues

4. Drive qualified traffic from social media sites (earned media) to dealership sites (owned media) defined by marketing strategy

5. Improve SEO “footprint” by creating multiple SERP listings using dealership branded Social Media accounts and profile pages

Social Media Marketing Tactical Objectives (the How)

Good ROI analysis requires accurate historical performance data (which few dealers have). Capturing and analyzing historical data requires time and discipline. It’s easy to cast aside analytical tasks when everyone is focused on making deals and generating profit. Historical data sets a baseline for measuring the “Delta”. That change can then be measured and compared to actions that may have caused it. If you can correlate Social Media initiative actions to impact, then you can calculate ROI.

History and Correlation

Automotive Avenues Internet Sales Lead volumeYear Before Investing resources into Social Media Marketing

2,383 Leads Submitted Annually(Above the National Average for metro car dealers of 968)

6,340 Leads Submitted Annually

166% IncreaseDuring Worst Economic

Climate in 30 Years!

Automotive Avenues Internet Sales Lead volumeYear After Investing resources into Social Media Marketing

Does posting relevant Blog content that attracts Traffic

yield an increase in volume of Internet Sales Leads?SalesLeads

BlogVisitors

Historic

w/$500 coupon

w/Video

Sales Leads 100 100 100

Average Gross PVR $1,500 $1,000 $1,500

Lead/Sales Rate 5% 10% 15%

Profit from Units Sold $7,500 $10,000 $22,500

Incremental profit from Action N/A $2,500 $15,000

Cost of incentive N/A $500 $2,500

ROI N/A 400% 500%

Does posting YouTube videos designed to drive Lead Form submissions generate ROI?

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERApply all the measurement factors available for B2C social marketing scenarios. Then compare the ROI of Events to buying RFQ leads. Start with historical data. What is the conversion rate of leads from special events versus 3rd Party Leads? What is the lifetime value of an average car buyer to your dealership? Compare the outputs and divide by costs to assess ROI:

ROI Performance Metrics

Assumptions:1. Average cost of a special event for 100 RSVP attendees = $3,0002. People attending your events convert at a 2% sales rate (30 days)3. Average cost of buying 500 3rd Party Leads is $10,0004. 3rd Party Leads convert to sales at a 1% rate.

ROI Analysis: Special Event 3rd Party Leads

Audience size 100 500

Conversion rate 2% 1%

Lifetime profitability $10,000 $ 25,000

Cost of acquisition $  3,000 $ 10,000

ROI 233% 150%

 Leads Lead Value Cost

QuarterlyROI

CumulativeROI

Y1-Q1 10 $          1,000 $     2,000 -50% -50%Y1-Q2 25 $          2,500 $     2,000 25% -13%Y1-Q3 35 $          3,500 $     2,000 75% 17%Y1-Q4 50 $          5,000 $     2,000 150% 50%

Y2-Q1 75 $          7,500 $     4,000 88% 63%Y2-Q2 100 $        10,000 $     4,000 150% 84%Y2-Q3 130 $        13,000 $     4,000 225% 113%Y2-Q4 160 $        16,000 $     4,000 300% 144%

Let’s look at one more example in which we use a blog for lead generation. We know that performance will be slow during the first few quarters until search engine traffic kicks in. Based upon the experience of others, we believe that lead growth will improve steadily as traffic builds. We expect to be at 50 leads per month by the end of the first year and 160 per month by the end of the second. Our historical data tells us that a lead is worth $100. We further estimate our editorial costs at $2,000 per quarter during the first year, doubling to $4,000 during the second. Here’s our analysis of quarterly and cumulative ROI.

Lead Generation from Article Marketing

Value MeasurementCustomer satisfaction

Customer surveys; renewal rates; referrals; incremental business; testimonials; Net Promoter Score

Customer loyalty Renewal rates; incremental business, response rates, event attendance; testimonials; Net Promoter Score

Customer engagement

Newsletter subscriptions; online community activity; response rates; event attendance; testimonials; feedback volume

Reputation Market share; awareness research; media citations; analyst research

Market influence Market share research; lift studies; media/social media citations; speaking invitations; analyst research

Leadership Attitudinal research; growth rate; media citations; copycat competitors

The trickiest aspect of ROI analysis is accounting for intangibles. These include factors like customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, brand reputation and market influence. Many social marketing projects are justified for these reasons but the outputs are never measured, either because it’s not worth the effort or because the measurements aren’t in place. In fact, all of these outputs can be measured and have been for years using some of the following tests:

Measuring Intangibles

Automotive Marketing ROI; By Social Media Channel

What happened when 11,159 People in San AntonioVisited AnciraCommunity.com

•18,374  Visits

•11,159  Absolute Unique Visitors

•90,715  Pageviews

•4.94  Average Pageviews

•00:04:32  Time on Site

•48.12%  Bounce Rate

•60.36%  New Visits

What is the Display Advertising Media Equivalent Value of AnciraCommunity.com Impressions?

•18,374  Visits

•11,159  Absolute Unique Visitors

•90,715  Pageviews

The aggregate average Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) for “Automotive Intender” geotargeted advertising in San Antonio market is $7.57 CPM…

90,715 Pageviews = 907.15 CPM Units

907.15 x $7.57 = $6,867.13

Advertising Equivalent Value

What is the Google Adwords Pay Per Click (PPC) Search Advertising Media Equivalent Value?

•18,374  Visits

•11,159  Absolute Unique Visitors

•90,715  Pageviews

The aggregate average Cost Per Click (CPC) for Google Adwords campaigns for automotive relevant keywords geotargeted within San Antonio Metro is $2.64 CPC…

18,374 Community Visits = 18,374 Click Throughs

18,374 Clicks x $2.64 CPC = $48,507.36

Advertising Equivalent Value

What is the comparable Cost Per Unique Visitor Equivalent Value?

•18,374  Visits•11,159  Absolute Unique Visitors•90,715  Pageviews

The aggregate average Cost Per Unique Visitor (CPUV) for all other Ancira Auto Group online campaigns focused on driving traffic to Ancira Web Sites $2.12 CPUV…

11,159 Unique VisitorsX $2.12 CPUV ------------------------------------

$23,657.08

Advertising Equivalent Value

What is the Social Media Aggregate Equivalent Media Value Average for AnciraCommunity.com within the time period measured?

$6,867.13 CPM $48,507.36 PPC $23,657.08 CPUV------------------------

(79,031.57 / 3) = $26,343.85

Social Media Marketing: Measurements to Financial Values for ROI

Social Media Marketing – ROI Categories

Ads were seen 7,201,334 times in October by Facebook members who live near the two dealerships in this case study…

1,730 of those Facebook members clicked on one the two dealer advertisements… Since we spent $1,595.25 for the Facebook Ad Campaigns, each click customer visit to our community site, or Fan page cost 92 cents.

To show Facebook members our dealership ads 1,000 times, it cost 22 cents…

1

Birth of a Social CommunityADP builds AnciraCommunity.com integrated

w//Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.

Ancira personnel & suppliers set-up profiles - Get engaged – Create Content

Case Study: Ancira Auto Group

2

Registration / PublicationSite Registered in 120 Social VenuesWeb based console manages all accounts

Will you be my Facebook friend?Subscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Us on Twitter

Dealer InformationAncira Crafts Their MessageEmployees engage discussions

3

Syndicated ContentInterviews with Civic leadersRelevant Info From Other Sources

4

Local InterestHighlight Ancira Civic LeadershipBecome local social media leader

5

User ContentFun Stuff For CustomersRoad tests, reviews & how to’s“Canine Romance Blooms…”

6

Case Study: Ancira Auto Group – San AntonioSocial Media Reputation Management Results

“I am absolutely blown away that you not only responded… but that you use social media”

“I will be happy to explain to everyone the fantastic service I received…”

Positive customer feedback“Heaters Become Raving Fans”

Search Engine Results (SERP)

Branded Search

SERP Returns10 pages of

Ancira Social Media content

Consumer Response to Social Media Advertising

ancira dodge san antonioancira auto groupancira chevroletancira kia san antonio